Caroline Foran | The Nervous System, Anxiety & PDA Parenting #170
episodePreviously titled “#170 Caroline Foran | The Nervous System, Anxiety & PDA Parenting” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 4, 2026
Transcript
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome back to the Lower Down Experience podcast, where each week I bring you insightful and inspiring guests that will open your mind and empower your life. Quick favor before we start, if you're enjoying this podcast, rate it or share it with a friend.
What does a PDA profile mean for a child's nervous system?
That's how we keep it growing. Something I hear all the time from women in their 40s and 50s is that they feel like their care is all over the place. One appointment for hormones, another for bone health, another for intimate health, and none of it is really joined up. That is exactly why I love BlackRock Health and what they have done in their Women's Health Centre.
Why can traditional parenting methods backfire with PDA children?
It is a full 360 approach to midlife health, bringing together consultants, specialist nurses and allied health experts all in one place. It's a small, focused team, which means your care feels personal and coordinated.
How does performative parenting affect relationships with children?
And what really stands out is how seamless it is. You can have your consultations, diagnostics and even procedures organised in a really joined up way, sometimes on the same day. And it's not just about treating symptoms. They look at the full picture of your heart, breast, brain and bone health, as well as your overall wellbeing, with support from physio, nutrition and psychology too. This is how women's healthcare should be.
What challenges did Caroline face before her son's diagnosis?
Preventative, joined up and centred around you. If you are in that stage of life and want to feel properly supported, it is definitely worth looking into the Women's Health Centre at Blackrock Health. Are you feeling wired by day and restless at night? Well, Fabio Orno Relax is your daily blend of botanicals, B vitamins and magnesium to help you feel calm and balanced, ease into deep rest and wake up refreshed. Check out our amazing reviews on fabiowellness.com, available on fabiowellness.com and in pharmacies and health food stores nationwide.
So is your son non-verbal then? No, he is verbal. Can't shut him up half the time. But there's so much about him that challenged what we thought we knew about autism, like in our very limited knowledge, I guess, how we have all absorbed messages and representations of autism. So for the longest time, we were told it's just anxiety. You were told about your son? Yeah. Anxiety is such a huge part of neurodivergence as I'm learning. Like it's It can be the driver of people almost finding out and getting diagnosed sometimes, especially if they're like lower support needs and anxiety is very prominent. But for him, it was really severe separation anxiety and nothing I did seemed to move the needle. And like, obviously, I'm very aware of anxiety and myself and like what helps and what doesn't help and the language to use.
But we were banging our heads against the wall for the longest time and the anxiety wasn't improving. And eventually... through a lot of emotional ups and down, we discovered that he's autistic with a PDA profile.
How did Caroline's own anxiety history impact her parenting?
So what does PDA mean? PDA, I remember Googling it when people sort of said, have you come across this? And I was terrified. I was like, please, this is the worst thing you could tell me right now is if this is what my son is going to have to live with. But it stands for traditionally pathological demand avoidance, which sounds like a person will just never be able to respond to a demand. And that's very hard to live in the world with. It's very hard to be a child with. It's very hard to parent someone with. But I think the more preferred term, and I'm just learning all of this now, is a pervasive drive for autonomy. Oh, that's so much nicer. Well, it's a lot nicer.
Isn't it?
What role do medication and therapy play in managing anxiety?
Yeah. And actually, just to be really clear, because I know Caroline, you were a little bit worried about if we do happen to talk about autism in this podcast, that you are worried that you could maybe offend anyone in the autism community with the language that you use or the way you're expressing it. But it's really important that everyone knows that this is your lived experience. experience, you're new to it all as well because your son has only recently had a diagnosis and we're absolutely not out to offend anyone or upset anyone.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–0:17
2
What does a PDA profile mean for a child's nervous system?
0:17–0:39
3
Why can traditional parenting methods backfire with PDA children?
0:39–0:53
4
How does performative parenting affect relationships with children?
0:53–1:19
5
What challenges did Caroline face before her son's diagnosis?
1:19–3:07
6
How did Caroline's own anxiety history impact her parenting?
3:07–3:42
7
What role do medication and therapy play in managing anxiety?
3:42–4:38
8
How can showing the body safety help manage anxiety?
4:38–1:08:09
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Laura Dowling Experience
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